The Vertical Stack Technology Coalition For Near-Zero Emissions PBC ("VTCNZE") today announced a proposed national "Speed-to-Power" framework designed to help the United States deploy approximately 600 GWh of distributed grid storage within approximately 48 months by adapting the emerging CHIPS-era public equity model to critical energy infrastructure.
The proposal follows the federal government's recent use of minority, non-controlling equity stakes in strategic technology companies receiving public incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act. VTCNZE believes that same taxpayer-aligned model should now be applied to the physical power infrastructure required to support frontier artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, defense readiness, robotics, and high-density data center growth.
"The CHIPS model changed the conversation from one-way subsidy to taxpayer upside," said Max Davis, Founding Architect of VTCNZE. "If public authority can accelerate quantum and semiconductor infrastructure while preserving value for the taxpayer, the same principle should apply to the energy infrastructure needed to power frontier AI. Chips do not matter if America cannot turn them on."
VTCNZE's proposed framework calls for a coordinated public-private deployment model built around high-density, load-adjacent, non-lithium energy storage assets positioned near major computing and industrial load centers. Rather than relying solely on sprawling horizontal battery farms or years-long utility interconnection queues, the framework prioritizes compact, modular, vertically integrated storage structures capable of being deployed on urban industrial parcels, brownfields, underutilized public land, and infrastructure-adjacent sites.
The company argues that the national AI power challenge is no longer merely a utility planning issue. It is an industrial strategy issue, a national security issue, a ratepayer protection issue, and a community wealth issue.
Across the United States, data center growth is colliding with constrained substations, multi-year interconnection backlogs, transformer shortages, land-use conflicts, and rising concerns that infrastructure costs may be shifted onto residential ratepayers. VTCNZE's proposed model is designed to address that bottleneck by creating a repeatable pathway for rapidly deployable, high-density storage assets that can support critical load centers while reducing grid stress.
"The limiting factor is speed," Davis said. "America cannot wait four years for a conventional substation review while AI infrastructure, semiconductor strategy, quantum computing, and national security systems are all racing ahead. We need a new category of infrastructure: accelerated, load-adjacent, high-density storage with public upside built in from day one."
The proposed framework would allow federal, state, and municipal entities to participate in qualified infrastructure projects through minority, non-controlling equity positions or comparable economic participation rights. These public positions would be tied to the value each level of government contributes. Under the conceptual model, the federal government could contribute national priority designation and financing access; state governments could contribute statutory clean-grid authority; and municipal governments could contribute brownfield access and local permitting acceleration. Private investors would contribute project capital and engineering execution.
VTCNZE describes this as a simple principle: No taxpayer acceleration without taxpayer upside.
The VTCNZE framework centers on high-density vertical energy storage structures, or "Vertical Stacks," designed to compress large-scale storage capacity into smaller urban or industrial footprints. The model is intended to support load-adjacent deployment near data centers, AI campuses, industrial corridors, grid-constrained substations, and brownfield redevelopment zones. By building upward rather than outward, the model seeks to reduce land demand and shorten project siting timelines.
"Scaling 600 GWh is not about building one mega-project," Davis said. "It is about validating a repeatable infrastructure unit, aligning public authority with private capital, and then deploying that unit across the corridors where power constraints are already threatening American technological leadership."
A central component of the proposal is what VTCNZE calls the "WIMBY Factor" — Welcome In My Backyard. Communities are more likely to support critical infrastructure when they are protected from unfair costs and included in the upside. Under the proposed model, qualifying AI and energy infrastructure projects should not pass avoidable grid upgrade costs onto residential ratepayers. Instead, projects receiving public acceleration should include mechanisms for direct local benefit, such as municipal equity participation, local revenue sharing, and community benefit pools.
"Behind-the-meter cannot mean behind-the-community," Davis said. "If a neighborhood is being asked to host the infrastructure of the AI age, that neighborhood should not be treated as an afterthought. It should be treated as a stakeholder."
VTCNZE argues that energy infrastructure now belongs in the same category as semiconductors under the CHIPS Act. AI data centers, semiconductor fabs, quantum systems, and advanced manufacturing all depend on reliable, scalable electricity. "The next layer of American industrial policy is power," Davis said. "The sooner we admit that, the faster we can build."
VTCNZE is calling for immediate cooperation among public-sector authorities, utilities, data center operators, and infrastructure financiers to evaluate pilot deployment pathways. The company believes Illinois and the Chicago region are strong candidates for early pilot evaluation due to existing data center demand and industrial land availability. More information can be found at https://verticalstack.energy.
